Wednesday, May 7, 2014

What’s New and What’s Hot About Rondo

The President of Basketball operations of the Boston Celtics, Danny Ainge, has been asked more than a thousand times about a potential trade around Rajon Rondo. In all of those plus thousand times he answered with the same manner. Rajon Rondo is staying at Boston. So is that the case? Can the Celtics afford to lose Rondo for nothing in exchange after the end of the next season, when he will become an unrestricted free agent? Will maybe Rondo be will to stay in Boston for a few more years after the 2014 – 2015 season and with the vision of a rebuilt Celtics team?

First of all, there were and continue to be some rumors around Rajon Rondo and a potential move to the Houston Rockets. The Rockets were rumored to be in discussions with Boston for a potential trade that would involve the 28 – year old superstar point guard as the trade deadline window was closing earlier in the season. Nonetheless, a deal didn’t go through, mainly due to the low-value exchange the Rockets were willing to offer.

The truth is that Houston desperately wants to get rid of Omer Asik and potentially Jeremy Lin, too. Both of them have huge contracts for the upcoming season. On top of that, Asik is clearly a no-fit alongside Dwight Howard and Patrick Beverly overtook the starting point guard role from Lin midway through the season. Nevertheless, in order for a trade around one of those two Rockets to go through and for Rondo to head to Houston, the C’s will most probably ask for Chandler Parsons to be added in the package. In fact, almost any team that the Rockets will contact offering Lin or Asik will ask for something in exchange. So, a Rondo move to Houston seems like a far-fetched scenario at the moment.

Danny Ainge received several more calls from teams around the league requesting for Rondo, after he initiated a deep rebuilding mode last summer but his response was the same to all GMs. Rajon Rondo is not for sale – or to be included in a trade. So, there are some scenarios that want Rondo being shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers – I wonder what the Lakers can offer in exchange – or to the New York Knicks. Nonetheless, they are most probably science fiction scenarios most probably.

The most possible scenario, at least for the upcoming season is that Rondo will stay in Boston and he will be the cornerstone for the team’s rebuilding process. Despite the team’s limited financial flexibility, the C’s can perform some moves to kick start their rebuilding and they will certainly want Rondo to be the leader of the team in that process.

It might not be the best option for the explosive point guard and some people even say he shouldn’t waste his prime in a rebuilding team. Nonetheless, at least for the next season Rajon Rondo is under contract in Boston and he will just stay there.